Method of re-covering books



Jan. 28, 1936. E HERTZBERG 2,029,101

METHOD OF RECOVERING BOOKS Filed Sept. 18, 1935 Patented Jan. 28, W36

UNHTEQ STATES Parent orrics rm'r'non or im-covnnmo Books Ernest llilertzberg, Des Moines, Howa Application September 18, 1935, Serial No. 41.088

Claims.

My invention relates to the rebinding of books for libraries. The object of my invention is to provide a method of re-covering individual books for 1i- 5 braries as distinguished from binding books for editions.

It is my object to provide a method for recovering such books, whereby the cloth for the binding may be cut into standard sizes, and a picture may be then printed on the cloth. The proper size of stock cloth is then selected for the book to be bound, and the back lettering is stamped or printed on the cloth. The back strip and boards are placed on the inside of thecloth in positions accurately located with relation to the back lettering. These positions may be located in suitable ways, for example, by marking the cloth therefor on the inside or reverse side. The book is then cased in and the cover pressed.

With these and other objects in view, my invention consists in the method of re-covering.

books, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as hereinafter more fully set forth, and

pointed out in my claims.

In the drawing herewith, which illustrates'the cover cloth at different steps of the practice of the method- Figure 1 is a plan view of a stock cloth cover used in the practice of my method. It shows the picture or illustration.

Figure 2 shows the cover with the lettering on the back.

Figure 3 shows the reverse side of the cloth accurately marked, from the center of the lettering. for the placing of the boards; and

Figure 4 shows the reverse side with the back strip and boards in place.

In order to properly explain the steps of my method and its advantages, it may be well to recall that the covers of books in public libraries and the like wear out rapidly, and that the problem of rebinding such books is very difierent from the problem of binding a complete new edition.

-..' In binding an edition which may run from one thousand to many thousand-copies of a single title, the books are all of exactly the same size and the practice is to complete the complete covers or cases without any printing or designs on the outside thereof. The lettering and any pictures. are then put on the outside of the complete cases usually by an embossing press. The books are then bound in these complete cases.

It is not commercially practical to follow this 55 method for library books that require rebinding.

The cases can not be made in quantities, on a machine, because the sizes of library books vary and it is impossible to print pictures on the completed case made for re-covering a library book, because the expense of making a set-up for the embossing press for printing on one book cover is prohibitive.

Ifherefore, it has heretofore been the practice in rebinding'library books to cut the cloth to fit the particular book, put in the back strip and boards, complete the case, then place the book in the cover, and complete the cover, then lock the book in a hand press, set type for the back lettering in a hand pallet, and put the lettering on the back either in ink or in gold.

In some instances, the binder who rebinds library books makes up the case for a book and instead of lettering the book after it is encased as described just above, he sends the book and the case to the stamping department, where the case is laid flat on the bed of the stamping machine, outside up, and the impression is made, putting on the back lettering. The workman centers the back lettering by eye from the boards on the reverse side. Then book and case are sent to the binding table and the binding completed.

There is another method of making stock cases in advance for library bindings, which, however, has only recently been adopted, since my method has been put into use. According to this method, the cases or bindings are made up in stock sizes, and when the library book is brought in for rebinding, the nearest stock size of casing is selected, the back lettering is put on, and the binding completed.

It will be observed, that in these old methods, the lettering on the book binding or case is done after the case is made or the book is bound.

It has never been the practice to put any picture on the cover of a rebound library book.

The advantage of being able to put pictures on rebound library books is very great. Ordinarily the covers of a rebound library book, except for the back lettering are plain.

With my method, the-books have all the interesting appearance of new books, and something of the attractiveness of the jacket ordinarily used by publishers.

Ordinarily a rebound book can be instantly detected by the plain cover.

Another advantage of my method lies in the fact that enables a book to be rebound and returned more quickly than when covers are made in the regular way. This is because in my method, the hook and cover pass through production at the same time and independently of each other. 7 i 7 With the present shortage of books libraries, this is of great importance in supplying the constant demand for more reading.

Numerous and other advantages of my method will be hereinafter set forth, I will now proceed with the description of my method.

For the practice ofgmy method, I cut cloth in standard sizes for covers to, Figure 1. "Any cloth suitable for book bineling may be used.

While it is true thatglibrary books which require rebinding are, in a great number of sizes, I find that due to ;the flexibility of my method, six standard sizes of cloth will meet the practical requirements of; the binder.

I then print up these standardsizes of cloth covers with atypical illustrations M. For instance, there will be a few with a western picture, a few with a; sea picture, a few with apicture of a child, a few with a picture of a dog, and;so forth. I then have a stock of cloth cut to size with appropriate illustrationsfor a great number of books; This cloth occupies practically, no more space on; the shelves than the uncut and unprinted cloth; This, 'I believe, has never been done before in the history of book binding.

When a book comes in to be rebound, for instance one of Coopers sea tales, the book is measured, and duplicate tickets are nrade, showing the size of the book, the back lettering tobe put on the cover, and the illustration to be used on the cover. 7 I

From here on for a part. of the ,production periodjthe cover is put through one series of steps and the book simultaneously through another series of steps, thuszspeeding up the rebinding process.

One of the tickets goes with the book.

The book is mended, sewed and machined in the ordinary way to; prepare it for rebinding. This can be done in such a way as to prepare the book the best; way possible according to its condition when received by the binder.

' No attention need be paid to the cover or case into which the book is finally to be placed. We have mentioned these steps briefly, but it will be understood that the necessary and usual steps are takenfor preparing the book for rebinding.

During the same time that the worn book is being prepared for re-covering, other workmen receiye the duplicate ticket The type setter sets up the matter for the back lettering. The

slugs or typegare sent to the stamping department, where they are proof-read, and given to the stamping machine operator. He notes on the ticket the illustration number and the size of the book, opens the tray which contains the proper piece of cloth bearing the desired illustration thereon, slightly creases it at the center and the,

top and bottom and places on the bed of the press. The back lettering Isis then put on by any method available in the binding establishment as with ink, geid leaf, foil or otherwise.

My method makes it possible to accurately locate the back strip and boards on the reverse side or inside of the cover, and thus to complete the case according te the size of the book. to be bound.

The placing of the back strip and boards in exact proper location with relation to the lettering on the hack of the cover may be accom-' plished in various ways. The workman must know the extreme right and left locations of the back lettering in order to. properly locate the back strip and boards. Z I

I preferably proyide means for indicating the extreme right and left locations of the back lettering by drawing ,yertical lines on the inside of the cover to indicate those locations and by drawing a horizontal line for placing the tops or bottoms of the boards.

I use special equipment for doing the marking, getting the locations by means of a mirror. The locations cf the marking may be done by providing pinholes at the extreme right and left ends of the back lettering or otherwise. Thus on the accompanying drawing, on Figure 3, I have shownthe; vertical lines l3 on the inside of the cover cloth, which register with the extreme right and left ends of the back lettering. The line it shows the location for the tops of the boards.

it will, of course, be understood that the line M is so located that the proper amount of; cover may be turned in according to the size of the book to be bound.

Also it will be observed that the location of the line It is such that the upper edges of the boards will be located at proper distance above the top of the back lettering. This location of the line it is determined by the mirrer or by the pin holes or otherwise. a:

In the meanwhile, the book has been collated, mended, sewed and backedwith stay cloth. The back strip "and the boards; have been cut to fit the book. The back with the back strip and boards now meets the cover cloth on the binding table. V r.

The glue is applied to the inside of the. cover cloth and the back strip I5 is then placed in position as indicated by the lines 53. The boards are then placed in position in proper relation to the back strip and in' accordance with the size of the book to .be bound, as indicated on the ticket,

and leaving a proper space for the. groove to beput in the binding' The case is completed by turning in the edges of the cloth and passing through rollers. E

The edges of the book are then glued, the book back is placed in the case, the grooves formed, the end sheets pasted up and the book and binding placed in the press. 1

It will be seen from the foregoing, that where my method is used, the cover can be made to exactly fit the book to be rebound. Books to be rebound vary in size. Sometimes two books'of the same title and edition will vary because of the fact that1the edges of one are worn more than those of another, and it is necessary to trim one more than another. time the cloth is to be turned in, it appears that it extends beyondthe boards so far that it will not turn in properly, the surplus is trimmed off to reduce the cloth to the proper size for turning in.

It is also clear that where my method is employed, the back lettering will have the exact desired location on the back of the book. This is If at the true because the case is completed in accordance 1 with the location of the back lettering.

Thus where my method is employed, the case is constructed to fit the book and is completed in such manner as to have the back lettering properly located and these results are accomplished :1

It has V in a manner, which appeals to the reader the same as a new book.

My method involves no greater cost than ordinary plain binding.

I will now refer to some further advantages of my method.

It enables books to be returned to libraries quicker than when covers are made in the ordinary way, because the book and the cover pass through production independently of each other and at the same time.

No other system allows pictured or decorated covers to be used on books with so few standard sizes of cover cloth. I use six sizes to fit practically all books. To illustrate this advantage, it may be said that one system now in use, where standard sized cases are made in advance, requires the carrying of 2048 cases in stock, in order to have one of each size of book up to 8 by 10 inches in size. With my system, I can fit any size book up to 9 by 11 inches with six sizes of cloth stock.

At the same time, I have a great variety of illustrations on the stock.

My method permits the binder to fit the cover correctly to any book regardless of thickness. .If the cases were made in advance, such fitting of the book would be impossible, and in some instances, the book would have to be trimmed too much in order to use the stock case.

Where complete stock cases are used, it is frequently necessary to use a case or cover too large for the book, because the correct size is not available.

My method eliminates the hazard of warped or shelf worn stock cases. Where cases are made in advance for use on library books and stored, warpage results.

My method allows great saving in inventory, which is true, because the cloth only is cut and held in stock. Where complete cases are made for stock, the cost of cloth, boards, back lining paper and glue together with labor must be added to inventory. In the case of slow moving sizes or of a falling off in demand for the binding of certain books, this results in tying up or loss of capital invested.

There is a great saving in storage space in plants. Where my method is used, 75 to 80 pieces of finished cover cloth can be stored in the space that would be occupied by 8 to 10 complete cases.

My method also effects a conservation of floor and table space as compared with the method where the books accompany the cases through the stamping department, and must be stacked on the operator's tables. Where my method is employed, only this semi-finished cloth goes through this part of the plant.

My method also efiects considerable saving in labor and fatigue, since only the cloth is handled in the finishing department, whereas other methods require the handling of books or complete made cases or both when finishing.

By my method, I can use heavier buckram or other cover cloth than can be used where cases are pre-made on machines, and I can make rounded library corners which can not be made v on machines.

My method makes it possible to use production methods for the binding of individual books.

Some variation may be made in the practice of my steps, and it is my purpose to cover by my claims any such variations that may be included within their scope and within the scope of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. A method of re-covering books, including the cutting of cloth approximately to size for a case, putting an illustration on the cloth, putting the lettering for the back of the book on the cloth, marking the reverse side of the cloth according to the location of the back lettering for the placing of the back strip and boards, gluing the back strip and boards to the cloth, completing the case, and binding the book therein.

2. A method of re-covering books including the steps of cutting cloth to standard sizes, putting illustrations on the cloth stock, selecting a piece of such prepared cover cloth for the book to be rebound, putting the back lettering on the cloth, gluing the back strip and boards on the reverse side of the cloth according to the location of the back lettering and the size of the book, completing the cover and binding the book therein.

3. A method of covering books, comprising the preparation of cloth stock in standard sizes, the putting of illustrations on such stock cloth, putting the lettering for the back of the case on a selected sheet of cloth hearing such an illustration, marking the reverse side of the cloth for the back strip and boards in proper relation to the location of the back lettering, completing the case or cover and binding the book therein.

4. A method of re-covering books including the steps of cutting cloth to standard sizes, putting illustrations for the cloth stock, selecting a piece of such prepared cover cloth for the book to be re-covered, puttingthe back lettering on the cloth, marking the reverse side of the cloth according to the location of the back lettering, for the placing of the back strip and boards, gluing the back strip and boards on the reverse side of the cloth according to the location of the back lettering and the size of the book, completing the cover and binding the book therein.

5. A method of re-covering books, including the cutting of cloth approximately to size for a case, putting the lettering for the back of the book on the cloth, marking the reverse side of the cloth according to the location of the back lettering for the placing of the back strip and boards, gluing the back strip and boards to the cloth, completing the case, and binding the book therein. ERNEST HER'IZBERG. 

